Other forms: cul-de-sacs
A cul-de-sac is a short street closed at one end. No through traffic, and children playing in the road.
The name is French and means the bottom of the bag, which is exactly the shape. British suburban planning is full of them, since they are quiet and safe, and critics argue they make places harder to walk across. A turning circle at the end is a planning requirement. The figurative sense means a line of enquiry or a career that leads nowhere.
1nouncul-de-sacA street closed at one end.
“They live in a quiet cul-de-sac behind the school.”
2nouncourseA course of action leading nowhere.
“The whole line of research turned out to be a cul-de-sac.”
A cul-de-sac is the bottom of a bag. French cul, a bottom, plus sac, a bag, so the street is the closed end of one.
French
cul-de-sac
English, today
cul-de-sac
Built from
Borrowed from French cul-de-sac. French cul-de-sac, from cul (“bottom”) + de (“of”) + sac (“bag, sack”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Directions & Position
First appears in chapter 31 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word